A Killer Mike song without a message is like Aaron Rodgers without his right hand. The ATL emcee is now a solid 3/3 and is still batting 1.000 with his latest drop from the upcoming R.A.P. Music. As with the rest of the album, “Don’t Die” features El-P on the boards and tells a chilling tale of racism and violence at the hands of police. Without spoiling it too much, let’s just say that Mike’s storytelling ability is criminally underrated and underutilized, a strength he should take advantage of more often. In light of the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman mess, the record is declaration is crystal clear and is sure to strike a chord in anybody familiar with the gruesome details.

Killer Mike’s music has always politically charged, but he’s taking it into the stratosphere with R.A.P. Music. The trio of leaks to this point resonate to me with similar magnitude and intent as Public Enemy in their heyday. One thing’s for sure. Mike will be pissing off a lot of people with this release, but that’s how you know he kept it honest and did it right. There won’t be any sugarcoating and watering down here.

I know I’m gonna get hated on for this comment, but this beat is all over the place. Takes away from any attention to the lyrics. I’m hatin when rap goes in this direction. Just because you can make any kinda beat on Ableton or whatever doesn’t mean you should put some vox over it. It’s not rap.

El-P’s production’s pretty reminiscent of Bomb Squad production, actually, check his catalog (which is deep as hell) and note that he cites the Bomb Squad’s work with Ice Cube as a direct influence on his work with Killer Mike (he produced the whole album). Not to hate on you, but it’s not going in some new direction that betrays “real rap’s” origins. It might not be your cup of tea, but it’s not exactly foreign material, and IMHO it’s way more Hip Hop than some stuff that’s less noisy.